It’s safe to say that not many of our readers have heard of a new band called ƵMØRA. While they haven’t even played a live show yet, they’ve released two digital singles and have a few more lined up. You may recognize their leader and bassist, $ali, from IX-NINE- (who we’ve interviewed a couple oftimes before)!

ƵMØRA is unique in the scene in that its members are split up between Japan and Poland – which explains why they haven’t performed on stage yet.

Instead of a standard introduction post, we decided to jump straight into an interview with them. Learn all the basics about this new band that defines the word “borderless.”

-Could you start by introducing each member to us?$ali: I’m the leader and bassist, $ali.Naoki: I’m the drummer, Naoki.$ali: There’s also Ayo on vocals, Domi and Hrafn on guitar, and PRINC3 on program/synth. There are six of us in total.

-How did you all meet?$ali: I went to Poland this past May to play a show with IX-NINE-. They were performers in the other bands I was playing with. I approached the members specifically after going out with them once or twice. Then started talking about forming a band.

-How do you communicate? Do you speak in English? Japanese? Polish?$ali: I can’t speak much more than a bare minimum of English, so we usually use an interpreter.
Domi also speaks a fair bit of Japanese, so when I can’t convey something clearly enough, I’ll send it to him in Japanese and then he’ll convey it to the others.Naoki: Sometimes it’s a mix of Polish, English, and Japanese.$ali: I guess you could call us a borderless band in more than just a musical sense.

-From what kinds of music do you draw influence?Naoki: I enjoy visual kei music.$ali: Our vocalist Ayo likes a really wide range of music and uses those influences to create her own vocal style. She’s also pretty fluent in Korean and likes Japanese, so on that front, her pronunciation is also really good. You can’t tell she’s not a native Japanese speaker at first just by listening to her.
The voice recordings she sends me don’t always sound like rock, so you can tell just by her voice that she’s influenced by a wide variety of musical styles.
Domi and PRINC3 also listen to visual kei, like the GazettE. He and Hrafn have also been getting into some heavier music lately.
Hrafn is also a fan of black metal, like Behemoth. He also likes DIR EN GREY.

-Since most of the members live in Poland and you live in Japan, how do you create songs together? Do you send samples back and forth?$ali: Almost everyone in the band writes songs. One member will upload a song they’ve created, and I’ll rearrange the parts that I want to rearrange. Then the other members will rearrange the parts that they want to rearrange. The final product is basically a culmination of everyone’s adjustments to the original song.

-Wow, that’s pretty impressive!$ali: I’m not sure if there are a lot of other bands besides us that work this way.

-Do you write songs, too, Naoki?Naoki: Yes.$ali: The song we’re planning to release in November is one that he originally wrote. It’s titled Sakura.

-Do you find it difficult?$ali: You know, I thought it would be difficult at first, but since the members and I are pretty straightforward about what we think works and what doesn’t, it’s easier than you’d think. They also have a lot of motivation. That’s probably the most important thing.

-You’re currently in the midst of a four-month consecutive release series. You’ve already released one track, “Kirameki,” correct?$ali: Yes. We originally planned on releasing it as an EP, but we write a lot of songs at a surprisingly fast rate, so we decided it might be better to release a full-length album instead.

-How will the rest of that series play out?$ali: We’ll have one release per month until December, and then we’re planning on playing a show.

-Wow, a show? Where?$ali: In Poland.

-Could you tell us about the other releases planned?$ali: Our next one planned is Witchcraft. PRINC3 originally created this song. Then Domi added the guitar parts. It has a loud rock song that I wouldn’t normally think of writing, so the bass part ended up being really interesting to play. The vocals are also really fascinating.
The other song we’re releasing is one that I created a long time ago. It has a gothic feel to it, with violins, violas, and cello. It sounds like it could be on a movie soundtrack.
Our October release is the one that Naoki created, Sakura.
One song we’ll release in November is one of Domi’s songs. It doesn’t have a title yet. It includes a lot of Japanese-inspired elements that make it sound mysterious, heavy, and deep at the same time.
The other one is another one of mine. It’s also dark, and the lyrics are in Japanese.

-What do you hope to achieve as ƵMØRA?$ali: I don’t want us to become a band that just plays shows and releases music. I want to go back to Poland and play shows with them, and I also want the members to come here [to Japan] to play. I want us to be a band that can achieve what seems impossible.Naoki: I want ƵMØRA to be famous. I want to play shows all over the world.

-Lastly, please give a message to all of our readers at S-T.net.$ali: There aren’t many other bands like us, in both our music and our activities. I definitely think we’ll capture your interest, so check us out.
We’ll do our best to play shows near you. Please come see us when we do.

———

We hope we’ve piqued your interest in ƵMØRA. Check their official website and their social media accounts for all you need to know about the band’s next move.

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Interview: A First Look at ƵMØRA
Reviewed by Shannon on
Sep 10.
It's safe to say that not many of our readers have heard of a new band called ƵMØRA. While they haven't even played a live show yet, they've released two digitaIt's safe to say that not many of our readers have heard of a new band called ƵMØRA. While they haven't even played a live show yet, they've released two digita
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